Moving with our bikes

[Fredwina]

I've also had very good luck with leaving the bike as-is and letting the movers do their job with a couple of moves

[mauisher]

Due to where I live I have to ship my bike a lot. A reputable local bike shop can pack it in a double bike box with lots of protection and it should be fine. However, personally, I own a Trico Iron Case and my bike has survived several trans-Pacific and trans-USA journeys unscathed. I've also used a doubled bike box from a LBS in a pinch. I do the packing myself. As others have mentioned, mark the seatpost with some tape, so you know the exact height. The seat angle and fore-aft position should not be touched on the seatpost. Just remove the seatpost/seat as a unit. When you remove the handlebars, just remove the stem from the fork post/steering tube as a handlebar/stem unit....do not take the handlebars from the stem. Remember how many spacers you have below and above the stem on the fork. That way the handlebar position will be exactly preserved. Make sure that when the bike is packed the front and rear dropouts are braced so they won't be squished....I use a bolt with four wingnuts that I wedge in the dropouts to mimic an axle. The pedals may have to be removed. I remove the rear derailleur and zip tie it and the chain together with bubble wrap. I also use the cheap gray pipe insulation you can find at hardware stores/Home Depot to protect the frame. It comes in various diameters and I zip tie this foam to the frame. The wheels need to be separated from the frame by some additional cardboard or foam and also from each other. This has worked for me so far. Hope this helps...good luck.

[mauisher]

Whoops, forgot to mention that both FedEx and UPS allow you to ship your bike insured. I've found FedEx Ground to be the cheapest, but it may be different for you. If you ship them to your corporate apt you can use them right away rather than wait for your household shipment to arrive. Aloha!

[OakLeaf]

I knew I had a link somewhere...

http://www.bicycling.com/article/0,6...1060-1,00.html

My personal experience is that I don't trust UPS with an empty roll of bubble wrap. I know others have said the same thing. If you're absolutely stuck with having to use UPS, choose air not ground, even though it'll cost more. If you have someone you know on the opposite end to receive your shipments (or will be arriving at your apartment before your boxes), FedEx Home is really inexpensive.

[bmccasland]

I'm still waiting to hear if I get the job in Seattle. If I get the job, unfortunately I don't get to choose my moving company - provided by Uncle Sam. And with three kitties and a dog, there's no room in the car for my bike too. I figured I'd have my LBS pack it, then have a Seattle bike shop reassemble it and refit me. Considering the knee issue I had on the MS tour, I could probably use a new fitting anyway. No, I haven't been on my rode bike since.

[NbyNW]

And with three kitties and a dog, there's no room in the car for my bike too.

Definitely some packing logistics were involved, as we also had to carry enough clothes to deal with the drop in temperatures over potentially 2-3 months.

We've got just the one dog, but we got a roof-top cargo box for my wagon, into which we stuffed our winter coats and a few bags of clothes. With 1/3 of back seat down I could get my bike in standing upwards with front wheel off. That way dog had 2/3 of the back seat, and I still had a good amount of trunk space, and I didn't need to pile things up so as to obstruct my sightlines.

Carrying the bike on top would have been the next option, but I just felt that the bike was safest inside the car.

Plus, it's a little weird knowing that with cargo on top, the vehicle is a bit taller than your used to. Center of gravity goes up and you have to pay more attention to clearances. The car is still not taller than most SUVs, though, so I haven't run into any problems.

[OakLeaf]

Clothes you won't need in transit are the easiest and safest thing to ship. Jam 'em in a box, suitcase or plastic tub, use them to wrap anything fragile, drop the containers off at FedEx and they're at your destination like magic.

Use them to pad your bike, even (with care so nothing gets greasy, of course).

[GLC1968]

Yeah, our bikes were both on the back of the Prius for the drive. Bad move. Two bikes on the back of a Prius acts like a sail. Our MPG dropped to BELOW what the Matrix was getting (we drove both cars - too much stuff with two 70+ lb dogs). We found an ACE hardware and bought a socket set to switch the bikes to the Matrix and were amazed at the change in gas milage. It barely lowered the Matrix MPG at all and the Prius went right back up to where it belonged. It was all about aerodynamics and the shape of the two cars (and the engine size)... Live and learn.

Oh, and I have NEVER seen dirtier bikes before! We spent hours cleaning them up once we got to our destination. I am SOOO thankful we opted to take the 'rain' bikes on the car and not our nice road bikes!